The tech community is buzzing at the news that Microsoft has made an unsolicited US$44.6 billion offer to acquire Yahoo and word is that Yahoo is actually considering it very seriously. The potential merger has long been rumored and there are many reasons for which it could actually make a lot of sense for both companies. A question, though, remains as to who the winners and losers are in that deal. Topline, it’s clear that Microsoft and Yahoo benefit from this and clear that it doesn’t benefit Google. But who else? Let’s look at the deal and try to figure it outs Winners OpenID: Only a few days ago, Yahoo announced support for OpenID, a system that allows users to use their yahoo credentials as a way to login to other services. Surprisingly, this was the goal of Microsoft Passport (now knows as Windows Live ID), almost a decade ago. A pairing between Microsoft and Yahoo could represent a major win for OpenID, especially if the partnership extends Yahoo’s commitment to Windows. One could see OpenID being incorporated with Active Directory in the future, leaving any non-openID provider in a lurch. AT&T: Yahoo has a partnership with AT&T for IPTV….

Mac-a-ronies does a good roundup on the digital divide questions raised by the recent Pew Internet Trust study. I suspect those of us who have been online for a long time can hardly fathom why people would get online and then eventually leave. After all, what’s not to love about the Internet? I could go on an rehash the popular arguments as to why being online is important but somehow, I suspect that I don’t need to do this as people reading this site are obviously not part of the online dropout crowd (if you are, then could you please explain to me why you came back?) Based on my own informal study (meaning, I talked to 1-2 people about this), here are some counter-arguments you can make to people who poo-poo the value of being on the Internet: Untrustworthy Many people still feel that the Internet cannot be trusted. This is somehow due to the fact that many opinions are available on the Internet, some coming from large corporations, others coming from individuals. With each opinion comes an agenda (my own being how do we keep increasing the spread of the Internet so I can keep getting cool jobs…

It’s the day after the presidential election in the United States and the winner is… either Bush or Gore. The interesting thing in this is that part of the reason we have reached this outcome is that polling booth in the United States are still using antiquated technology. In Florida, the state that will decide who gets the election, the voting is done on punch cards. For years to come, this election will be scrutinized and people will ask questions as to what went wrong. Whether Bush or Gore wins, there will be about half of the people looking for some sort of reform. In the new age of computing, one is left to wonder whether there will be a change in the way election booth are shaped. Using technology could solve one of the problems: if the voting booth were more computerized, we might know who the next president is by now. Using basic client server technology, this could easily be changed. If the voting booth were to hold dumb terminals with touch screens connected to a server at every location, the servers could be brought in and the votes quickly tabulated. Other net-related votes However, a number of…